If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 683

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween

 

These three cards shared this week and are numbered H14, H15, and A16.  They all have examples of symbols used at Halloween. They are unused Halloween postcards printed by Laughing Elephant.com and are reproductions of a vintage illustrations from around 1910.  The card above has the code:  H 16 with an N inside a triangle and a copyright symbol at the lower left side.  The illustrator is not identified but the style dates all three the cards to the early 1900s when greeting cards for all or most holidays were popular.

 

This second card has the code:  H 15

 

 

 

And the third card has the code:  H 14

 

Halloween is also known as All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints Eve.  It is celebrated across the globe and observed in many countries, including the United States, on 31 October.  Many Halloween traditions appear to have been influenced by Celtic harvest festivals such as the Gaelic Samhain.  While some believe it stems from pagan roots many others think it might stem from an early Christian holiday called All Hallows’ Day when a vigil was kept in remembrance of the deceased.  Modern day Halloween activities include things like trick-or-treating, parties with apple bobbing, carving pumpkins to make Jack-o-Lanterns, divination and other games, dressing up in costumes, playing pranks, visiting “haunted houses,” or watching scary movies.  

 

 Jack-o-Lanterns were used as a symbol on All Hallows’ Eve long ago in Ireland.  Since there were no pumpkins in Ireland at the time this tradition began, turnips were used instead.  An old Irish folk tale has a man named Stingy Jack who made both God and the Devil angry, and was therefore not welcome in either heaven or hell because of it.  He was forced to roam the earth with only the turnip jack-o-lantern to light his way.   People would put Jack-o-Lanterns around their homes to keep Stingy Jack from coming to their house on the night that the vigil was kept for the dead.  

 

"Wise women" who in earlier times were known to be helpful with healing illnesses, were feared under Christianity, becoming known as "witches," and considered as symbols of evil and sorcery.   Bats were associated with the myth of vampires.  They were considered spooky because they might transform into a vampire and suck the blood of animals and humans. 

 

Druids believed that evil humans could turn themselves into cats.  Black cats were especially vulnerable since the color black was a symbol of evil and death.  Owls were also thought to be associated with witches and therefore evil.  The sharp call of a Screech Owl made people think of witches flying overhead. 

 

Ordinary playing cards are symbolic of various things too.  Red for warmth and light, black for cold and the powers of darkness.  The four suits:  the spade is in the shape of a leaf; the heart becomes the center of life; the diamond, represents the feminine, and the club the masculine. 

 

Cards are also representations of luck, good or bad as in “the hand that fate dealt.”  The 52 cards in a deck equal the 52 weeks in a year; the 13 cards in each suit equal the lunar months in a year.  All kinds of playing cards, and special divining cards, like Tarot cards, were also used for telling fortunes. 

 

Brooms were thought to be able to sweep away the evil.  It is not clear why witches use brooms to fly around; however, it may stem from pagan times when rural farmers would dance around astride pitchforks and brooms during a full moon to encourage the growth of their crops.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org.wiki/Halloween

https://www.history.com/news/why-witches-fly-on-brooms

https://kinghalloween.com/halloween-symbols/

https://safepaw.com/from-bats-to-black-cats-the-real-stories-behind-halloweens-furry-icons/

https://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/edmonton_archives/halloween-icons#:~:text=Some%20believe%20owls%20and%20bats,Dracula%20was%20published%20in%201897.

https://public.websites.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/C/cards.html

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 630

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween postcard, ca 1915

 

Happy Halloween!  (a few days early)  The two postcards shared this Thursday are reproductions of original cards from about 1915.  Both have verses, which seemed a popular card addition for the time, and both were printed by the small local printing company, Laughing Elephant.  As mentioned before, Laughing Elephant specializes in Vintage illustration reproductions.  Not much is known about the original publisher, E. Nash, who is credited with producing both cards. 

 

 

 Halloween card, ca 1915

 

 

Both cards have witches, black cats, brooms and owls but they also have differences.  The top card has a witch making a love potion.  She has a charm, a candle, and a spider as well as the usual cat, broom, and owl.  The second card adds a pumpkin, geese, the moon, and a cauldron.

 

Halloween has deep roots going back to the Druids, Celtic people who lived mostly in Ireland, as early as 400 B.C.E.  It was thought that the last day of October was the night when the veil between the spirit realm and the living was the thinnest, thus allowing spirits and other supernatural forces to descend and cause mischief or harm.  Cats were thought to be the spirits of humans who had done bad deeds in life.  Black cats were those spirits who were unfortunate enough to be cursed for their misdeeds.  Following the introduction of Christianity witches were divided into two camps; those who were known for their wisdom and medicine, and those who were believed to worship the devil.  It was even believed that evil witches could turn themselves into black cats. 

 

Treats were left on doorsteps to appease the evil spirits and led to the tradition of dressing up in costumes and trick-or-treating by children today.  Jack-o-lanterns were originally carved out of turnips, lit with candles, and used to scare away unwanted visitors.  If a spider fell into a candle-lit lamp and was consumed by fire, people thought that witches were nearby.  Owls are nocturnal, make hooting or screeching sounds, and were thought be spooky, hence becoming another natural symbol of Halloween.

 

Brooms were associated with different things; such as, pagan fertility rituals, when farmers would leap and dance astride poles, pitchforks, and brooms in moonlight to encourage their crops to grow.  Also, brooms can be symbols of good luck, suggesting that they sweep away evil and bad fortune.

 

For more information, see:

 

https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/life/columnists/joan-carson/2018/10/23/how-owls-became-associated-halloween/1740181002/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin%27s_Day

https://www.history.com/news/why-witches-fly-on-brooms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

https://www.mercattours.com/blog-post/7-old-halloween-traditions-that-might-give-you-the-chills

https://www.cardcow.com/c/67299/artist-signed-e-nash/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid

https://laughingelephant.com/

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 579

 

 

 

 

Reprint of Halloween themed postcard, 1908

 

 

Halloween is coming in a few days and I thought it would be fun to share some more vintage Halloween themed postcards.  All the cards shared today are reproductions from Laughing Elephant, a small company that specializes in vintage art, books, and posters. 

 

The postcard above has an illustration by Bernhardt Wall, dated 1908.   Bernhardt Wall was an American historian and lithographic illustrator who was born in 1872 and died 1956.  He is credited with designing more than 5,000 comic cards and was called the “Postcard King.”  Wall worked with several different publishers, such as, Valentine & Sons, Bergman, Barton and Spooner, International Art Co., the Illustrated Postal Card Co., Gibson Art Co., and J.I. Austen.  In addition to the comic and holiday themed cards he also designed patriotic cards and American propaganda cards printed during WW I.  Much of his work had western themes after he visited Colorado, Nevada and California in 1915. 

 

 

 

Reprinted Halloween themed postcard, 1935

 

This second card has a design by Maginel Wright Enright Barney (1877-1966) who was an American children’s book illustrator and graphic artist.  Her unusual first name, which she used professionally, is a nickname and a contraction of Margaret Ellen, or Maggie Nell, created by her mother.  Maginel was the younger sister of the architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, and mother of the children’s book writer and illustrator, Elizabeth Enright.  Maginel illustrated 63 children’s books including a lesser-known L. Frank Baum, (Wizard of Oz author) works, one called The Twinkle Tales, 1906, using the name Laura Bancroft.  Her first husband, Walter J. “Pat” Enright, was also a young artist who worked on books written by Baum.   Maginel and Enright were divorced and she later married a lawyer, Hiram Barney.  During her career she was a magazine illustrator working for McClure’s and Ladies’ Home Journal.  The card above was a magazine cover dated 1935.  Other enterprises included writing and illustrating textbooks for younger children.  She was said to have been one of the very best artists for children.  In the 1940s she also became a shoe designer creating high-fashioned jeweled and sequined shoes manufactured by Capezio. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhardt_Wall

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginel_Wright_Enright

https://laughingelephant.com/

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 527

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!  The cards shared this week are reproductions of Halloween greeting cards originally produced by the Beistle Company.  Laughing Elephant is a local shop that specializes in reproducing vintage art, cards, postcards, posters, and books.  The card above is stamped Copr. H.E. Luhrs on the Jack-O-Lantern’s cheek.  Below is another card from the same company, showing a black cat wearing a hat and a monocle with the same imprint on the bow tie.  

 

 

The Beistle Company or Beistle manufactures holiday decorations and party goods.  The company was founded in 1900 in Pennsylvania by Martin Luther Beistle.  A line of Halloween products was introduced in the 1920s and helped popularize Halloween decorations in the United States.  The company is still producing decorations and party goods today making it the oldest continuing manufacturer of such items.

 

 

Martin L. Beistle was working as a salesperson for the Pittsburg Art Calendar Company around 1900 when he had an idea to create artificial plants made from paper.  He started the company in his home basement where he made artificial flowers and wooden products.  The company expanded and was incorporated in 1907 and had moved from his basement to the second floor of a wagon shop in Oakville, Pennsylvania.  Eventually further expansion allowed the company to move to larger facilities in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.  In 1910 Beistle was using imported technology and manufacturing honeycomb tissue, previously only available in Europe and Asia. 

 

In 1920 Beistle partnered with the Paper Novelty Company and began creating a variety of paper decorations for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  By this time the Beistle catalog had become popular and was best known for Halloween-themed items.  In the 1920s and 1930s fortune-telling games for Halloween parties were added.  Over 1,000 different Halloween-themed designs and decorations have been produced since the line was first introduced.  Creepy Company, founded in 2015, also offers apparel, pins, and other products based on the Beistle designs. 

 

After the death of Martin Luther Beistle in 1935 the ownership of the company passed on to his son-in-law Henry E. Luhrs and his family.  Since the cards shared have the Luhrs mark on them they were either reproduced from earlier cards or were new designs from 1935 and onwards.

 

For additional information, see: 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beistle_Company

https://laughingelephant.com/

 

 

Music at UW

  Halloween Organ Recital

Here is something to put on your calendar for Halloween next year—The University of Washington School of Music puts on organ concerts annually beginning with a Halloween recital at this time of year.  The event is held in the cozy Walker Ames room in Kane Hall on the campus that holds about 100 to 150 people and was a treat not a trick.  The Littlefield organ was decorated, as were other areas in the room.  All the performers and a few people in the audience were in costume. The evening opened with Hedwig’s Theme from the Harry Potter movies continuing on with a variety of old and new music including some familiar Bach, Mozart and Grieg.  The room was almost full even though a football game was being held at the same time in the stadium on the other side of the campus.

Part of the audience and the organ

The organ with decorations

The performers in costume

After the recital the participants posed for a few photos.  Unfortunately I was not standing in the right position to get a good picture of all of the performers but Professor Carole Terry is in the center with the red & black jester hat, the students:  William F. Bryant as the Grim Reaper, Kyujin Choi the ladybug, Samuel Libra as the doctor, Kyle Kirshenman in a gray kimono, Hyun-Ja Choi & Ahra Yoo were wearing Mickey Mouse ears and black cat red ears that lit up, Christopher Howerter was the cowboy, David Boeckh was the vampire in top hat and cape, and Cara Peterson was in the red robe.  [If I made an error and got someone in the wrong costume, I apologize.]

The organ was installed in 1990 and is named for the Littlefield brothers, Edmund and Jacques, who donated the money for its construction.  It is beautiful.  It was handmade in Tacoma by Paul Fritts & Company Organ Builders and was modeled after 17th century German and Dutch instruments.  It has 979 pipes ranging from 10 feet to the size of a pencil and has a wonderful tone.  This evening was great fun and one I hope to repeat next year.

For more information about the upcoming organ recitals and the Littlefield organ see:
http://www.music.washington.edu/news/104